We are just a group of men who lead others, there are no professionals here, you have to pay for them, this is free. If your sue happy spill your Dunkin coffee but don’t confuse them with me cause I and we don’t have anything and your being told you can’t sue any of us. If you can’t do something we are doing tailor it for yourself, but do something and get stronger
23 cherry pickers
23 fairy jacks
23 Moroccan night club
The thang
Snowflake plank 1 minute
23 mountain climbers
Snowman shuffle to the stairs, up the stairs, and down the stairs, and back around
23 merkins
23 LBB
Stairs Tour
23 squats
23 American hammers
Stairs Tour
Bear crawl (side lot) light poles and back
23 big boys
23 calf raises
3rd F
Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”
We all come here daily, weekly, monthly or once upon a time, Specially this location has been once a week, as the iron has sharpened a mighty strong blade here it has allowed us to slice open the seems. This piece of iron has upheld the mission of F3, plant, serve, and grow. When this location was planted it only served a small group which has now grown and out grown our iron.
As it says in Proverbs 20:4, “Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing”
Clearly this group of HIM is not sluggards as harvest time has come here and there’s plentiful crop to carry into the next chapter…
Thank you to those who came, gritted it out, and have grown a bountiful crop of HIM
23 Freddy mercury
23 reverse crunches
Stairs Tour
23 dips
23 merkins
Stairs Tour
Ruxpin Homage Addition
Chappie Homage Addition
Sherlock Book reading Addition (Wall Sit 1:23 Seconds)
HIM performed 23 reps, as a remembrance of the year we left the library for our new site.
Announcements
We are growing, check groupme for updates, but not TRex’s post
Prayers- Rosco’s Friend as he recovers from a medical issue.
Round 1 at each station: 40 reps each exercise (lap and glow stick swap)
Round 2: repeat with 30 reps (lap and stick)
Round 3: repeat with 20 reps(lap and stick)
Round 4: repeat with 30 reps (lap and stick)
3rd F:
While in Church last week, some guy talking up front made a profound statement that honestly made me feel a lot better about the Christmas season, and my thoughts concerning the gift of Jesus all together. He said something to the tune of… “Jesus is the light during this season, and throughout every other season.” Id been thinking about that same thought a lot leading up to Christmas and Id been making that connection a lot ever since our family committed ourselves to following Jesus during our baptism in August. To be honest, leading up to the baptism I had this sense of complacent calm that after we publicly pronounced our faith as a family… the commitment was openly made and the path with Jesus would just appear naturally, easily, and fluidly. While some of what I thought would happen was true, what took me by surprise was the overwhelming challenge that would hit me soon after. This path was going to be rewarding in so many ways, but it would not be without it’s hurdles, because the road bumps that I once ignored and dodged, or solved by taking the easy solution, now presented them selves as an obstacle that I had to handle in a way that He would be proud of. Take for example us… we’re all members of a society in which we’re trying to do the best we can. And with that, we have a huge responsibility to be a faithful role model. And to piggy back off whirlybird… your kids (and everybody else around you both old and young) do watch you. When you cuss when you smash a finger, when you lose your temper in traffic, when you tell your wife you love her and make her tea in the morning, when you own up to a mistake, and even when you think their eyes are closed with you during prayer… They’re always watching to see what they can learn from you. The big questions is, what are you showing them? From that knowledge I think it’s important that we own, accept, and embrace the challenge of not only knowing about the Lord, but truly walking so instep with Him so that anybody who’s watching knows exactly where you stand, and the sense of security and resolve that a Christ centered life gives you. Coupled with that incredible challenge is understanding and admitting that things aren’t always easy, we screw up… and we aren’t perfect. There’s an amazing path laid out in front of all of us that leads to forgiveness and salvation. That being said, the path that is laid out will lead you to challenges, tests worse than those in a 7th grade science class, and even some rejection and sadness that will test everything you stand for. The guidance and comfort that Jesus provides can give you what you need to conquer all of that. If it’s being a leader…. His words teach about that. If it’s guiding your children…. His lessons are perfect for that. If it’s being a better husband, there’s many important lessons to learn in the Bible, and if it’s commitment to a healthier life that serves as an example to our friends, family, and community (and possibly leads to a sweet patch) there’s wisdom about that too. So what stands in our way??? A commitment to taking that next step, embracing the challenge as one that YOU need to tackle, and walking with Him in order to meet your goal. Accept the challenge, own the challenge, embrace all of life’s hardships as a chance to learn and be blessed. Romans 8:18 reads “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” A new year is upon us, and if you happen to stumble on your path or fall into darkness in 2023, Get back up into the light and move forward even faster, because He’s got your back, and those who are watching you will follow.
Workout Continued…
Finish up as many reps at last station as possible with lap and stick swap in between.
6 HIM gathered together on a chilly morning to embrace the suck as YHC Gump was brought back from the dead with a surprise Q (thank you Sherlock much appreciated). We welcomed a HIM (Breakfast Club) from downrange back as he was visiting family for the Holidays.
Warm o rama
20 SSH
10 windmills
10 grady corn
15 crab flippers
THE THANG
In typical Gump fashion we went for a stroll through the GRITMILL. We Mosied the Riverwalk around for a warmup just to get us over to Gigante parking lot. Here we worked thru the 100 ab workout.
PAX completed 100 of an exercise, first one to 100 called it and everyone was done, after the exercise we did a lap around the parking lot. The exercises were as follows:
100 LBC- lap
100 BBSU -lap
100 flutterkicks single count- lap
3rd F message
100 doubletap LBC- lap
100 American hammers- lap
finished up the workout the way we started and took a nice mosey back down the riverwalk to end the beautiful Gloom
3rd F message
Colossians 1:10-14
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
it was great spending the morning with all of you HIM, i will be back out regularly as soon as I can. It’s hard to drive from anywhere to get the kiddos on the bus by 610, and on the days my wife has off work I let her sleep in because Shes been working full time and going to college full time. Saturdays I take the kiddos out hunting. Just know our family has changed in the past 2 years and I am fully focused on serving them. See you Gents soon!!
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
Windmills – 20 IC
The Thang
Pax completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the Exicon at the CHOP. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line across the CHOP Parking lot approx. .02 miles apart. Sprint from the Church to the field behind CHOP and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to Church and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to the field and perform 1st exercise. Sprint back to the Church and perform 1st exercise. Plank it up until all PAX are in. That completes one round. Rinse and repeat for the remaining exercises as identified. Round #1 – 10 Burpees. Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg). Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers. Round #4 – 40 Merkins. Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats.
F3 message –The 3rd F was shared after completing round #4. See Below….
PAX finished the beat down strong with more burpees OYO & AMRAP.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Jim cracked me up with the story he told in his recent family newsletter.
He and his honey were enjoying some personal time at the Atlantic Ocean. Which is really big. Jim decided to take a picture of himself and the ocean. Which is really big.
Later, he made a disturbing discovery – which he reported this way. “I think I missed the ocean!”
Which is really big.
Oh, he’s in the picture, all right. But the Atlantic is nowhere to be seen.
Now how can a smart guy miss something as big and beautiful as the ocean?
By totally focusing on himself.
I’ve made that mistake. Missing the big thing because I was so focused on myself. I suspect I’m not alone.
When we’re hurting…when we’re grieving…when we’re grappling with a big problem – we tend to go inward and become all about ourselves.
We miss the person we married because we’re so focused on our frustrations with them. Before we married them, we magnified what we loved and minimized what bothered us. Now we’re all about our frustrations with them, forgetting all we loved about them.
So it’s selfie time. All about me. Losing sight of the one we once could not live without. So we stop loving like we did, and they start responding to the change.
We can miss our kids the same way. By dwelling on how they’re disappointing us, defying us, distancing themselves from us. So we’re sucked into a cycle of seeing – and talking about – only what they need to change. Not seeing – and talking about – the big picture of their strengths and their potential. We focus the lens on our hurt and fear and frustration – and miss the big stuff. The masterpiece God made and entrusted to us.
I know how much my picture can become a selfie when I’m going through a hurting time. Pain tends to make us selfish. Self-centered. Self-pitying. All those nasty self words.
But my Bible tells me that there’s always something bigger going on than the immediate situation. “All things work together for good to those who love God,” it says (Romans 8:28). And it quotes God as saying, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
There’s a Big Plan. For my good. But I’ll miss the big and beautiful part if all I focus on is my pain.
When my precious Karen was suddenly gone last May, my natural tendency was to be all about me – my grief, my life without her, my future.
But, thankfully, God quickly rescued me from my selfie. And began to show me what I could become through this greatest heartbreak of my life. I can honestly say my heart is more open than it’s ever been – open to God’s voice, open to letting my journey help others on their journey, open to the broken and breaking hearts all around me.
What’s scary is that our “selfie” focus can actually cause us to miss the biggest and most beautiful sight of all.
The God who made us.
We so want to have life our way that we live as if we’ve dethroned Him from the throne of our life. In the Bible’s words, “Each of us has turned to His own way” (Isaiah 53:6). And those “God, You run the universe, but I’ll run me” choices have “separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2).
All about me. Missing the God who’s the reason we’re here. Whose love we’re made for. Who thought we were worth sending His Son to die for.
The Ocean is right there, within my sight. Unless I’m blocking the view.
YHC took liberties to request being today’s Q for two reasons: 1) He wanted to jump start August’s Burp to School Challenge, and 2) He wanted to bring in his double-nickel birthday by serving up a stout offering of Burpees. However, not to be out-done Wildwing chimed in for his first “Triple Respect.” The guy is amazing! He’s been posting with a busted up ankle and a newly fused back that resulted from a head on collision in which he lost the love of his life (5/29/22). Tclaps and prayers, brother.
So here’s how it all went down:
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 10 IC
Crab Flipper – 10 IC
Windmill – 15 IC
Lanco Special – 10 IC
Merkins – 55 OYO
To-Go Order: The rest of Warm-O-Rama was done on the way to H.O.B. Elementary. Since our mouths were full of water, the trick was to watch the Q and do what he was doing since YHC could not talk with his mouth full (that’s what mama said). On the way YHC led with Mosey, Nur, Butt Kickers, Karaoke one way, Karaoke the other, Mosey, High Knees, Toy Soldiers and Mosey. Those who reached the destination with water still in their mouth were awarded with 18 Burpees (freebies for PAX to withdraw from their August Burpee account). Shout out to all the victors, especially to Fireplex for the first-time win! Here’s a glimpse at what August will look like for F3 First State…
And now…
THE THANG:
After winning PAX did their 18 Burpees, YHC shared his 3rdF message (see below). Then PAX paired up and did the infamous “Burp Back Mountain” on the side hill of the storm pond: Partner 1 runs to the bottom then Nurs back to the top, while Partner 2 is doing Burpees. Rinse and Repeat until all PAX pairs reach a cumulative 100 Burpees. Keep moving; as the sign said, “No Stopping, No Standing, No Parking. (To this point PAX potentially completed a total 68 Burpees.)
Wosey to the school entrance. Mosey back to the AO.
Once back the PAX took to the parking lot lines for Line Dance Burpees: Did 5 Burpees, jumping across the line between each rep. 2 Rounds of 5 (5-5) totaling 10 Burpees. Shout out to all the PAX who brought school supplies; keep up the good work men!
Total Burpees on the day = 83. PAX get to withdraw the amount equivalent to the school supplies they brought. The 2nd Annual Burp to School Challenge is on!
The Shirt Says It All
That’s a wrap! PAX circled up…
COT:
Number-Rama : 19 PAX (including FNG Blue Box)
Name-O-Rama
Announcements/Prayers: Prayers for Fireplex’s dad, battling cancer; for Blockbuster, facing a big test today referred to as “the widow maker.”
YHC stood in for Semi today to transfer the CHOP shovel-flag today to new Site-Q Whirlybird. Welcome to the leadership circle, brother! And Tclaps to Semi for doing a great job as Site-Q and planting the shovel-flag for the last 2 years. Thanks brother!
New Site-Q Whirlybird (r)
Always a privilege to Q, especially when celebrating a berfday AND when launching the 2nd annual Burp to School Challenge. Great Coffeeteria followed as YHC’s M threw down with some of the best coffee cake on the planet!!
Chappie, out!
For today’s 3rdF, see the following…
Shared Pain Builds Trust (DREDD, Q Source, 137)
“About my 3rd week of Ranger School the instructors marched us to a pond in the outback of Ft. Benning. There in the water was a narrow ladder that ascended 40′ to a 4×4 Plank that spanned 40′ above and across the pond. The idea was to climb the ladder, walk the Plank and drop from the rope into the water, which was nasty and cold. There was no safety line–if you fell, you fell. It was dirty and dangerous. And, although it would’ve been an easy thing to do were it only 5′ off the ground, walking that forty feet of Plank forty feet above the water was one of the most difficult things I had ever done at that point in my life. It only took about 2 minutes to walk that Plank, but it felt like two hours.
In truth, I didn’t want to do it. I’m certain that very few of my fellow Ranger School students wanted to do it either. And some men, maybe 5%, didn’t do it. They wanted to graduate from Ranger School just as much as the rest of us, but something within them just would not let them climb that ladder, walk that plank and drop into that water. The stress was too much.
But the others, the ones who were able to overcome the dirt, danger, and difficulty, we learned something about ourselves and each other that dramatically strengthened the TRUST between us. It only took 2 minutes, but such is the power of dirty, dangerous, and difficult things to bond men together. Shared pain builds trust.
F3 has an acronym for the dirty, dangerous, and difficult things we do to build Trust. We call them CSAUPS, which stands for…. This satirical on our part because a CSAUP is neither stupid nor pointless, it is a very efficient way to share pain. A CSAUP can be an obstacle race, a GORUCK challenge, or a GROWRUCK weekend or anything else that provides the opportunity for dirt, danger, and difficulty. Completing it together tells the participants something about themselves and each other–that they are men upon whom others may safely rely. The nature of the event is not important. What matters is that the Q uses the CSAUP to apply stress to his Team to build the Trust-relationship between its members.”
YHC’s addition: I’ve never been one of those who teaches that if you just accept Jesus, your life will be perfect. The Scriptures say too much about suffering to think that way.
1 Peter 1:6-7 say, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Though this month’s Burp to School Challenge may seem Completely Stupid And Utterly Pointless it is neither stupid nor pointless: It’s a way for F3 First State to share pain AND to do something good in the midst of it (provide school supplies)…plus, we’ll all get stronger.
Spur:
Trust is an essential element of shared leadership
YHC had his Virgin Q this morning! Thanks to the 17 HIMs who showed up for a record attendance at The Grit Mill! It meant a lot to have such good representation on my first Q. I decided to use fate and the F3 Workout Cards to assist me on the beatdown.
WARM-O-RAMA:
Disclaimer given
Moroccan Nightclub – 20 IC
Side Straddle Hob – 20 IC
Imperial Walker – 20 IC
Cherry Picker – 20 IC
Following the warm-o-rama we mosied to the parking lot at Arena’s and the PAX circled up around the speaker and workout cards.
THE THANG:
YHC broke out his new F3 Workout Cards for this beatdown. With the PAX circled around the cards about 15 feet from the deck of cards. Inspired by T-Rex using music for his beatdown, YHC brought a speaker to play 90’s alternative for the entire beatdown.
Everyone bear crawls to the center where YHC drew five cards for the first set and a different PAX was identified for the subsequent sets. Once cards were drawn, everyone crawl beared back their original position.
Call out for the exercises written on the cards as follows:
2-10: card value + 10 reps for the exercise
Royals: 25 reps for the exercise
Ace: 50 reps of that exercise
At the completion of the set everyone bear crawls back to the deck for more cards.
Set breakdown:
SET ONE:
14 – Alternating Side Squats
25 – Freddie Mercury’s
12 – Bulgarian Split Squats
18 – Backward lunges
25 – Diamond Merkins
SET TWO:
13 – High, Slow Flutter Kick IC
17 – Monkey Humper
14 – Carolina Dry Dock
Bear crawl 15 feet, Crawl bear 15 feet
20 – Rosalitas
Conducted the 3RD F after the second set:
Continuing the theme of checking on each other and on the people in our lives with whom we haven’t spoken to in a while. YHC shared a personal story of how he was going through a difficult time in his life and felt alone and had received a special message to seek out Psalm 20.
Psalm 20 For the director of music. A psalm of David. 1 May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. 3 May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.[b] 4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. 5 May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
6 Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. 9 Lord, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call!
Two days later, YHC met a woman while performing his duties as a nurse, and she was the key to change the direction his life was going in and make everything right in his world. Continue to reach out to each other and to others in your life. You just may be the person to turn their life around for the better!
SET THREE:
16 – Jumping lunges
25 – Monkey Humper
17 – Derkins
18 – Luge
25 – American Hammers
SET FOUR:
14 – Heels to Heaven
20 – Butt Kicks
18 – Merkins
17 – Lil Baby Crunches
15 – Hand Release Merkins
SET FIVE:
19 – Squats
16 – Wide Arm Merkins
50 – Calf Raises
25 – Shoulder Taps
19 – Ranger Merkins
Mosey back to The Grit Mill to end the beatdown.
NUMBER-RAMA
NAME-O-RAMA
COT/BOM:
Welcomed Thomas Lilly FNG nicknamed as Knobs.
Announcements: TRexs’ M’s event this weekend at Milton Memorial Park. Roving Ruckf3st Friday will be at The Grit Mill
Prayer: For Quattro’s friend who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. For MacDaddy and Taps and the group traveling via bicycles. Prayers for all us HIMs to be the leaders and examples to others in our homes, jobs, and communities. Prayers for all the needs and attentions of those present.
I am honored that so many PAX showed up for my VQ! I was truly grateful and humbled.
